Issaquah-Snoqualmie-North Bend
NORTHWEST RAILWAY MUSEUM
The museum is located in Snoqualmie, WA
(425) 888-3030
The museum is open 10am to 5 pm 7 days a week but Closed on Holidays.
Admission: FREE
The Snoqualmie Valley Railroad itself operates on Saturdays & Sundays Plus Special Events.
Click Here for Train Schedules & Fares
For More Information
Directions & Maps
to Museum Locations
Snoqualmie/North Bend Map
This is a great find for Train Enthusiasts as well as families with children. Throw Whistle Stop Birthday Party or just enjoy a little bit of history and the ride.
VILLAGE THEATRE
303 Front St N
Issaquah, WA 98027
(425) 392-2202
www.villagetheatre.org
map
Issaquah’s Village Theatre is a leading producer of stage musicals in the Pacific Northwest, providing the area with quality theatre for all ages. Village Theatre has grown into one of the region's largest professional Equity theatres, with over 18,000 Mainstage subscribers. Village Theatre offers a five-show season running September through July, including four musicals (at least one original musical each season) and one play in the organization’s two theatres in Issaquah: the beloved 1914 First Stage Theatre and the Francis J. Gaudette Theatre built in 1994.
The 2008-2009 season offers: Saint Heaven (New Musical), Disney's Beauty and the Beast, The Importance of Being Earnest (Comedy), Stunt Girl (Original Tale), Show Boat (Musical). Check the website, www.villagetheatre.org for ticket and performance information.
COUGAR MOUNTAIN ZOOLOGICAL PARK
19525 SE 54th
Issaquah, Washington 98027
425-391-5508
www.cougarmountainzoo.org
map
Cougar Mountain Zoo is just minutes from downtown Issaquah, offering a close-up-and- personal experience with the animals that live and play there. Visit The World of Cougars, one of the leading exhibits of these beautiful big cats in the U.S. Or stop by the rare Royal White and Golden Bengal tiger cubs exhibit.
The Zoo also boasts the largest captive herd of Siberian reindeer in the country (you know, Santa’s Reindeer?) and two species of the tallest, most beautiful of all the world’s cranes. Other critters showing their stuff include colorful macaws, ovoid emus, fuzzy alpaca, a swamp wallaby, three varieties of lemurs, and a baby mule deer—and soon there will be cheetahs. Check the website for hours and admission prices.
GILMAN TOWN HALL MUSEUM
165 S.E. Andrews Street
Issaquah, Washington 98027
Phone: (425) 392-3500
www.issaquahhistory.org/townhall
map
The Gilman Town Hall Museum is located in the original town hall established in the early 1890s, when Issaquah was still called Gilman. Not a large museum, but one chock full of memorabilia—everything from one of Issaquah's original water pipes to a dynamite blaster.
Learn the story of Issaquah's past through hundreds of photographs and artifacts, plus a variety of interactive displays. You can even stop off at the two-cell concrete jail out back—built in 1914 to replace a wooden jail which proved to be inadequate for its rambunctious inmates. This is a great place to find out about the town once called Squak. Check the website for times and admission.
ISSAQUAH DEPOT MUSEUM
50 Rainier Blvd. N.
Issaquah, WA 98027
PH: (425)392-3500
www.issaquahhistory.org/depot
map
The Issaquah Historical Society along with the generous help of the entire community has managed to completely restore the town’s original train depot. This is another great little museum where the visitor gets a first hand feel of how Issaquah came to be.
Visit the Station Master’s office—the most important man in town, back then. Imagine yourself waiting for the train back in the 1890s as you peruse old photos and artifacts, or explore the display of rail cars in the yard. Don’t miss the beautiful mural with a fascinating arraying of the area’s history. Check the www.issaquahhistory.org/depot for times and cost of admission.
ISSAQUAH SALMON HATCHERY
125 West Sunset Way
Issaquah, WA 98027
(425) 391-9094
Admission: Free
www.issaquahfish.org
map
The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery plays host to over 300,000 visitors each year. The facility is open to visitors year round. It has very good interpretive signs and displays to help guests learn about salmon and their life cycles, and about the hatchery itself.
Inside the front door, there is an aquarium of fish the same age and size as the fish in the hatchery's holding tanks. The best time to visit is September and October, when the salmon return to the hatchery up Issaquah Creek and when Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (F.I.S.H.) offers public tours.
ISSAQUAH SALMON DAYS
155 NW Gilman Blvd
Issaquah, WA 98027
(425) 392-0661
www.salmondays.org
map
Every year those salmon return to Issaquah and every year Issaquah throws a party in October to celebrate that returning. They call it Salmon Days—what else? This weekend party attracts more than 150,000 visitors, who take part in the non-stop FREE activities. They kick it all off on Friday evening with a formal ball and dinner called, SalmonChanted Evening!
There’s a Grand Parade, featuring fabulous floats, clowns, bands, equestrian entries, school groups, dance teams, and more!
Stop by the Whirled of Food (no kidding) for some tasty treats from around the world, and of course Salmon.
The kids will love the Field of Fun: 2008 attractions include pony rides, puppet theater, rope-a-phobia, weird science experiments, the Kid's Stage, dressing up as animals, a Kid's Carnival, mini-trains, and more.
There are 4 stages of free, live music and fun (including the Kid’s stage) providing non- stop entertainment and fun. Flap your fins and whirl your partner to the sounds of rock and contemporary music, local talent, live broadcasts, puppetry, wizardry, and so much more!
More than 300 artists and craftspeople set up booths to display: fine art, pottery, clothing, jewelry, glass, metal, leather, wood, take-home specialty foods, toys, country crafts, and more. You are sure to find many unique handcrafted treasures to take home and enjoy. Plus, you can meet the artists personally.
So plan to be in Issaquah to welcome home the Salmon and join in the fun! Check the website for Festival and event times.
RAVENS DANCE PARAGLIDING
PO Box 1794
Snoqualmie, WA 98065
(425) 890-1312
www.ravensdanceparagliding.com
Are you looking for adventure, something to make your heart race a little? Or maybe you’ve always longed to soar like an eagle. If so, paragliding might be just what you are looking for.
John Kraske, the owner and operator of Ravens Dance Paragliding has been featured on local TV and in publications, John offers a safe and enjoyable experience—whether you just sign up for a tandem paragliding experience or enroll in a full-blown paragliding course. Ravens Dance claims almost anyone can learn to fly and experience the joy that comes with free flight. Get a birds-eye view of the world below when you take off from Tiger Mountain, just a little ESE of Issaquah. Check the website for more facts.
ISSAQUAH AND HOW IT GOT ITS FUNNY NAME
If you can’t quite find that perfect name, just keep changing it and eventually something will stick. This is the tale of just such a quandary.
It was back in 1862 that natural riches—coal, not gold—were discovered along the Squak River, about 15 miles east-southeast of Seattle. At the time, the river had a native name, “Is-qu-ah.” This Indian word meant “snake” or maybe “little stream” or just the sound of certain birds. But the best, newly-arrived white men could make of the word with their untrained (or casual) ears was “squak.” So Squak River it came to be. In fact, in 1870, the area’s first post office was established nearby. Officially it was known as the Squak P.O.
Daniel Hunt Gilman came to the area in 1887 with an entrepreneurial swagger and a pocket full of dollars to invest in the newly developing coal mine. However, he did not take kindly to “his” town being called Squak. So in 1888 he renamed the town (you guessed it) Gilman.
But postal authorities declined to accept Gilman as the area’s new name, as it was similar top an existing post office in Klickitat County. So Postmaster George Parks arbitrarily changed the name to Olney. (I could not discover where this odd name came from, possibly his mother’s maiden name.) For a time it did business as the Olney P.O.
The increasingly-influential and stubborn Daniel Gilman was on hand when the area was officially incorporated in 1892 as (you guessed it again) Gilman.
Throughout these stressful name changes, local folks longed for and continued using the old name of Squak.
In 1895 the town (meaning its citizens) renamed itself. By adding an “s” and an “a” within the original Indian “Is-qu-ah” they came up with the more easily-spoken “Issaquah.” It took an act of state legislature to make the name official and final.
Gone today are Daniel Gilman’s coal mines, the logging industry, and their associated boomtown activities. Until recently, the quiet rural pursuits of farming and the dairy industry could just about sum up Issaquah’s collective personality. But nowadays the rural atmosphere and its companion industries are all but gone, too.
Today Issaquah is a growing and prosperous suburban community, whose city limits include the Issaquah Highlands, Cougar and Squak Mountains, and part of the Sammamish Plateau. Issaquah is a community blessed with an abundance of natural beauty and nature itself; occasional bears and cougars, passing through, might agree. Lake Sammamish and its State Park join at the northern limits of the city, answering the needs of camping, fishing, boating and swimming enthusiasts. Cascade Mountain ski resorts and other mountain activities are mere minutes away from Issaquah via interstate 90. And Cougar Mountain offers nearly year-round paragliding—oh, so close.
Community spirit is strong in Issaquah. The Issaquah Historical Society plays an active role in preserving the annals of old Squak. And as Issaquah continues to grow, the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce busily promotes the wonders of the area.
